Dear Editor, Reports emerging from parents about a showdown at Williamsburg Secondary School, located on the West Coast of Demerara, have indicated that education takes a backseat when it comes to the colour of your knapsack. The Head reportedly summoned 70+ students to her office to receive an official write-up in the Misdemeanour Book, to be sent home for the remainder of the school day and then told not to return to school without a black bag. When contacted for comment the Head of the School had this to say: “Ahm….Ah doan know why peepull cyan see dis point. If ya wear ah bag dat is not duh colour it is supposed tuh be, well then ahmm…yu ain’t tekking your education serious.” When questioned as to why the black bag is preferred to that of another colour, the Head said that over the years students have been allowed the privilege to wear bags of any colour and as a consequence performance levels of the school has dropped. As an example, she referred to the passes at CSEC for science related classes. She explained that students wearing blue and pink bags were somewhat likely to fail and students with black bags had a 50% chance of “maybe kind of not really passing”. She further claimed that rumours of a family member that sells black knapsacks in the village for a high price “ent all duh true them does sell all kinda bag, but if yall wan black bags dem can get”. A parent who happened to be at the school during the incident wanted to say how happy she was that she could now take back the textbooks she bought, for a refund, and buy a black knapsack so her child can get an education. It was also of mild concern that these students had their names entered in the book of misdemeanours and these events would have to be revisited when (if?) they graduate and seek jobs. One can only imagine how prejudiced employers will be against these rain bowed-knapsack hippies. The Head then responded with “ah cyan say” to the following questions by parents: Is it true that under the code of conduct set forth by the Ministry of Education all schools need to be held to this silly, and quite frankly embarrassingly insensitive, rule? What if some of these children you sent home never return with a black knapsack because they don’t want to be racist and wish to enjoy the freedom of choice of colour? Are you serious right now? What prompted you to focus on the real issue of the colour of a child’s knapsack as opposed to the academic performance of your school? Is it true that the knapsack is merely a tool and not part of an official school uniform? Are you related to Kim Jong Un? And if you say no, then why are you trying to fix imaginary problems instead of doing real work? Really, bro? Really? Of course these kinds of situations force citizens to take a stand and it is clear where the Williamsburg Secondary will be standing, so for the many readers out there I’m compelled to ask will you encourage this kind of prejudice? How many pink knapsacks and blue knapsacks that have already been born must we sacrifice to appease an unjust system? What about their children, the purple knapsacks? Must we pile these knapsacks in a corner to never fulfil their true purpose in life? One of the students had this to say: “I have a dream, that brown knapsacks, and black knapsacks, and the few scattered white knapsacks, and all the pinks and yellows and blues, which reside in this land of many waters, can one day carry the books of my fellow students without such blatant prejudice.” At the scene, one of the parents overheard talk of an underground rebellion that involved painting all these coloured knapsacks to make them black. Yes folks, instead of spending their time doing trivial things like studying and learning, the dear Head would rather have these children sacrifice their education until they conform to the rules of her administration. To paraphrase George Orwell, “All knapsacks are created equal but some are more equal than others.

Sincerely, Rufus McCurry